


Raina's Inhuman Transformation

by the_girl_in_the_flower_dress



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Episode 2x10, Gen, Inhumans - Freeform, Season 2 Agents of SHIELD, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 06:31:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14490894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_girl_in_the_flower_dress/pseuds/the_girl_in_the_flower_dress
Summary: Written from Raina's POV after she transforms and before she meets up with Cal. She expects to be turned into a beautiful angel and is left with a monstrous reflection and no one to turn to...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've always found Raina's character really interesting, and she's still one of my favourite SHIELD antagonists, so I thought I'd explore her character a bit more.
> 
> The chapters are quite short but I thought I'd split it up a bit for a change.

I watched in amazement and excitement as the Obelisk’s outer casing opened and a collection of beautiful ice-blue crystal grew out of it. Trip said something to Skye, but I took no notice, transfixed.

“What’s supposed to happen?” I heard Agent Triplett ask, breathless from his sprint to get inside the chamber in time. I barely acknowledged him and Skye, not taking my eyes off the crystals, but whispered simply;

“Something beautiful.”

This was it. This was my destiny. The words of my Grandmother echoed in my head, her voice eager and full of wonder and love, for me, and for what I would become. “ _An angel_ ”, she had called me. Memories of my childhood, sat at her feet, gazing up at her as she spoke of the Inhumans and the transformation that would shape my life, were clear in my mind and my heart.

A thick, smoky gas erupted from the crystals, interrupting my thoughts and almost knocking us all off our feet. From opposite sides of the altar, we approached slowly, carefully. I could barely contain my life-long fascination, all building up to this moment. For several seconds, the three of us stood still, staring at the crystals and breathing heavily.

Without any warning, a heavy grey liquid started to crawl up my body and began to solidify, encasing me in a cocoon of rock. I barely had time to gasp, and the first feelings of fear crept through me, overtaking the nervous excitement. First my legs, then my torso and arms were covered and I could no longer move. Within a couple of seconds only my eyes were left before disappearing; I was completely transformed into a statue, a look of shock frozen on my face. Skye’s strangled cry of terror was the last thing I heard before I blacked out, held upright by my structure of stone, as the transformation in my DNA took place.

\-------------

 

I had no idea how much time had passed, or what had happened to Trip and Skye. I was suddenly conscious again, the cocoon breaking away from the tips of my fingers, slowly releasing my body. I took a ragged breath as it fell away from my face, my vision blurry, only semi-conscious, then almost screamed in pain at the sensation of what felt like being impaled by hundreds of tiny blades. My hands were covered in sharp purplish thorns that throbbed and stabbed across my body, my nails shaped like talons. I didn’t even have time to look at my new form, and find out why I hadn’t transformed into a figure of marvellous beauty, as I watched Skye cast off her shell in a wave of emotion at Trip’s lifeless statue. Her outburst caused a wave of power to surge across the chamber, causing Trip, or what was left of him, to crumble like sand into nothingness.

The strain on the ancient walls of the Kree chamber was too much, and I felt the structure tremble all around me. I attempted to run to safety, but there was nowhere to go. Tears ran down my face and Skye screamed in grief at Trip’s death. The sound tore through me, it was so full of pain. The ceiling rumbled and large chunks collapsed, half-crushing us under a heavy, suffocating blanket of rubble.

By some miracle, I had stayed conscious. My head throbbed and I felt dizzy, but I had only received a glancing blow, and had thrown my hands up to protect my head at the last second. Nevertheless, my legs were buried under a pile of the broken ceiling, or maybe it was the wall? I was too disorientated to tell. The thick clouds of dust made it difficult to breathe and I could only cough weakly, desperately trying to breathe some clean air into my lungs. I could barely see anything… other than Skye.

She was crouched in the same spot as before, her arms clasped around her knees. She was shaking, sobs racking through her body, from shock, grief, or maybe both. However, apart from a few cuts and grazes bleeding weakly across her skin, she was completely unharmed. A perfect radius of about two metres around her was clear of any rubble, like an invisible shield had been cast up against the damage. Light from the hole in the temple ceiling spilled down onto the floor in fragmented shafts. It cast Skye in an eerie sort of spotlight, powdered with dust from the collapse.

In her outburst of emotion at seeing Trip dead, she’d somehow caused the temple to cave in, a situation that could have become fatal, and sub-consciously used her new powers (whatever they may be) to protect herself. Skye looked no different, if anything she radiated power. What Inhuman gifts had she been given? And what about me?

I was scared to look, telling myself that the constant pain and thorns in my hands were only temporary side-effects of the transformation. Taking a deep breath, I glanced at my arms and howled. I felt my face and head. I seemed to be covered in hundreds of spikes, all over my body. Every position that I tried to move into was agonising and my legs were still trapped under the rubble.

The trauma of the transformation, horror at my new form, and the heavy fumes in the air overwhelmed me. The room started spinning and I fell backwards, hitting my head on a large chunk of stone.


	2. Chapter 2

The distant sound of voices and machinery woke me. The side of my head felt sticky with blood, and every part of me hurt. Shakily, I sat up and looked around, groaning in pain and nausea that hit me when I moved. The light wasn’t as bright as before, fading into evening, although the dust had cleared a little. I guessed I had been unconscious for a few hours. Skye was now curled up on her side, also unconscious, her dark hair fanning out around her head and covering her face.

Numbly, I realised that I would have to move now, before S.H.I.E.L.D. found me. They were here for Skye, and Trip I supposed, maybe they didn’t know I was here. I couldn’t let them discover me. The thought of being locked up and monitored, watched like an animal, made me want to gag. With the little strength I had left, I manoeuvred my legs out of my rocky cage, and painstakingly slowly, stood up.

I took one last look at Skye and stumbled through a hole in the wall of the chamber. The voices sounded closer, but there were so many intricate tunnels, I guessed I still had a little time before they arrived. With each step further away from the dust and uneven ground, I felt a bit stronger and my head started to clear. Unfortunately, it did nothing to help the pain, and I felt no relief from the throbbing and stabbing on every part of my skin. Tears dripped off my chin onto my clothes, and I made no effort to stop them.

My heart lurched as I saw two people in full-body protection suits, construction helmets, and headlights walking around the corner about five metres in front of me. For a moment, we all stopped. Fear bled into their eyes as they looked at me and they opened their mouths in horror. They turned to each other, about to shout for help. Instinctively, I lunged and swiped across their throats, without mercy or a second thought, one after the other. They had no time to react. My new razor-sharp talons slit their throats with ease. They crumpled to the floor, and I fled.

I met another three people on my escape from the underground temple. They, too, met the same fate, one more violently and painfully than the rest. She’d tried to fight back, and for a few seconds, we had grappled each other messily. I stabbed at her chest to break away, and she cried out in pain, releasing me. Then I killed her. It was the only way I could get away.

As I ran, I pulled my jacket hood right over my head, casting a shadow over my monstrous face, the bristles snagging on the material. Hopefully, I could slip away unseen. There were plenty of entrances to the temple that I could use to escape. After a while, the full enormity of what I’d just done hit me. Yes, I’d employed others to kill for me or watched it happen; the Centipede project; cruel, deceiving, almost inhumane, yet I’d gone along with it. Working for Hydra was always going to be brutal, but I’d never had to do the killing myself.

I couldn’t get my head round it. I’d just killed five people in less than half an hour. _Five_. With my own bare hands. Desperately, manically, I tried to scrub the blood from my hands and under my nails, to no avail. A scream rose in my throat and I tried to swallow it back, to stay quiet. But I couldn’t stop myself throwing up against the wall, heaving up bitter, acidic bile from an empty stomach.

After about five minutes I continued. I had no idea where I was now, just hoping to find an exit from these nightmarish tunnels. By the time that the tunnel opened up onto land again, I was limping, every step sending shooting pain up my legs and feet. I felt a numb sort of relief, glad to feel the cool, night air on my face, yet with no idea of how to proceed. I’d always had someone to rely on; my Grandmother when I was young, then gradually, Hydra. I would never call them family, Hydra wasn’t like that, and I wasn’t really loyal to them anyway, but I’d always had someone who told me what to do and where to go. Now, I was completely on my own.

I decided that my first step would be to try and get cleaned up, somewhere where I could look at myself properly. I wandered along the beach front, head bowed and sleeves pulled over my hands, eventually finding some public bathrooms. Luckily, the area was practically deserted, it was now so late at night. I took one last look left and right, ignoring a drunken man stumbling round and laughing to himself, then ducked quickly into a large single bathroom.

I bolted the door and switched on the light, then wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant smell. The light flickered, dim and unnatural after the beauty of the coastal area outside. Dreading looking at my face for the first time, I turned my back on the grimy mirror and stood at the sink, letting the water flow over my hands. Gently, I rinsed the blood from my skin, washing around the thorns to avoid causing myself any more pain. I felt exhausted after everything that had happened, the stabbing now dying down to a more dull throb. My senses seemed to be shutting down after being in constant agony all day. I gingerly started to wipe the blood off my head and clean the wound, but stopped as soon as the forest of spikes jabbed at my hands, drawing in a ragged breath.

I watched the running water turn red, then weaken to pink and eventually turn clear again. I barely noticed how hot the water was getting; the burning was nothing compared to what I had felt throughout the day. I didn’t want to touch my face, even though I could tell it was stained with blood, dirt and sweat, but I knew I was going to have to see what I had really become. Slowly, I turned around, keeping my eyes on the floor. I took several deep breaths, my hands starting to shake with fear and nerves...

I looked up.


	3. Chapter 3

At first, I didn’t react at all. I physically _couldn’t_. I was too shocked. Only several seconds later did I release an animal cry full of all the emotions that flooded me when I was greeted by my hideous reflection. My entire face had changed shape, I would never have recognised myself if I didn’t know it was me. Gone were my pretty, delicate features, the attractive, melting brown eyes and sweetheart lips. Everything that I had prided myself on had been grotesquely distorted. My head and neck felt bare without my beautiful, soft curly hair that had framed my face perfectly.

My skin had an unhealthy yellow tinge to it that looked even worse under the lighting in the bathroom. I had a squashed, out of proportion nose and overly large, catlike eyes rimmed with shadows like bruises. They seemed to glow in the semi-darkness, leering back at me from the mirror. Ugly purple thorns protruded angrily out of my skin, arching round my eyes and cheeks and gathering on my forehead, then growing back into my hair and the back of my head, the spikes lengthening up to about twenty centimetres. Where my hair would have been was now just a dark shadow cut so close to my head that I could barely feel it was there. My baldness made me feel oddly vulnerable and naked and as much as I wanted to turn away, I found that I was rooted to the spot in horror, staring at myself.

I lifted a hand to my face, expecting to feel light, smooth skin and instead being greeted by uneven sharp thorns and tough lumps around the areas that they grew out of. Tears rolled down my face, snaking around my new features. A pitiful sob choked its way out of my mouth. I cried and cried, for how long, I had no idea. I felt weak, and I dropped to the dirty, damp floor, wincing at the movement. I wept for so many things, not just about the events of today, but for older feelings that I had kept buried under a mask of cold indifference.

I cried for the loss of my own face and body, and for the agony that tormented me non-stop, and for a future that I couldn’t see anymore, what on earth was I going to do? Then I found myself bringing up my loneliness; I had no family anymore, and Hydra would dismiss me, or worse, without batting an eyelid. I was nothing to them, to anyone. SHIELD would track me down eventually, I couldn’t keep hiding forever.

My hopelessness turned to hatred and burning hot anger. I had been told a lie that I had believed my entire life. I wasn’t an angel, I was a monster! The betrayal stung. No one would help me now, I was an outcast. Skye would be fine, she had her S.H.I.E.L.D. family, and her father. My eyes snapped open and my heart seemed to stop momentarily. Her father. _Cal_. _He_ would help me. He could change me back!

I struggled to my feet, feeling refreshed and excited, and stepped outside. I had a purpose, a quest to fulfil. I would find him, and make him heal me.

 


End file.
